Word.ws English Dictionary

race-bending

race-bending noun: playing the role of, or casting someone in the role of, someone of different race or ethnicity.

Noun

race-bending (uncountable)

  1. (derogatory, informal, often) Playing the role of, or casting someone in the role of, someone of different race or ethnicity
    • But while gender-bending — and for that matter, race-bending — may indeed "do" important political work, we must approach such performances with caution.2000 September 1, Robert S. Chang, Disoriented: Asian Americans, Law, and the Nation-State, New York; London: NYU Press, →ISBN, →OL, page 124
    • They stress the challenge that race-bending white rockers posed to the American color line.2002, Alice Echols, Shaky Ground: The '60s and Its Aftershocks, New York; Chicester: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, →OL, page 194

Forms of race-bending

alternative formracebending

Origin of race-bending

From race + bending, following the pattern of genderbending.

Questions about race-bending

What does race-bending mean?
Race-bending means playing the role of, or casting someone in the role of, someone of different race or ethnicity.
What part of speech is race-bending?
Race-bending is a noun.

Words near race-bending in the dictionary

  1. race-baiters
  2. race-baitier
  3. race-baitiest
  4. race-baits
  5. race-baity
  6. race-bending
  7. race-blind
  8. race-blindness
  9. race-fellow
  10. race-fellows
  11. race-goer

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: race-bending (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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